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Residents of Morehead City in North Carolina watch the surf at Atlantic Beach on Thursday as the first hurricane watch was issued. Chuck Burton/AP/Press Association Images

Debate over evacuation as Hurricane Irene heads for US east coast

A hurricane watch has been issued for the outer banks of North Carolina which means hurricane conditions could hit the US east coast within 36 hours.

THE US NATIONAL Hurricane Centre has issued the first hurricane watch for the Outer Banks of North Carolina as Hurricane Irene marches toward the east coast.

A tropical storm watch has also been issued for much of South Carolina’s coast. North Carolina’s hurricane watch extends from north of Surf City to the Virginia border. A hurricane watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours.

Early Thursday, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season has maximum sustained winds swirling at 115 miles per hour and is moving northwest near 12 miles per hour .

Its track has it possibly hitting the outer islands of North Carolina by Saturday.

Officials along the Eastern Seaboard are on alert and debating whether and when to evacuate people. Hurricane Irene could hit anywhere from North Carolina to New York this weekend, leaving officials in the path of uncertainty to make a delicate decision.

Should they tell tourists to leave during one of the last weeks of the multibillion-dollar summer season?

‘Prepare for the worst’

Most were in a wait-and-see mode, holding out to get every dime before the storm’s path crystalizes. North Carolina’s governor told reporters not to scare people away.

“You will never endanger your tourists, but you also don’t want to over inflate the sense of urgency about the storm. And so let’s just hang on,” North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue said Wednesday.

At the same time she warned to “prepare for the worst.”

In the Bahamas early Thursday, the head of the National Emergency Management Agency says that at least two settlements have been devastated on the southern islands of Acklins and Crooked.

Captain Stephen Russell says an official there reports that 90 per cent of the homes in the settlements have been severely damaged or destroyed. Several hundred people live on each island. No injuries have been reported.

They were among the first to be hit Wednesday as the hurricane made its way up the chain. Tourists cut their vacations short and caught the last flights out before the airport was closed.

Already hit

Irene has already hit Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, causing landslides and flooding homes. One woman was killed.

No warnings or watches were out for North Carolina though they were likely later Thursday. But on its Outer Banks, some tourists heeded evacuation orders for a tiny barrier island as Irene strengthened to a Category 3 storm, with winds of 115 miles per hour early Thursday.

Later in the day, that could intensify to a monstrous Category 4 hurricane with winds starting at 131 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center says.

“We jam-packed as much fun as we could into the remainder of Tuesday,” said Jessica Stanton Tice of Charleston, W.Va. She left Ocracoke Island on an early-morning ferry with her husband and toddler. ”We’re still going to give North Carolina our vacation business, but we’re going to Asheville” in the mountains, she said.

Officials said Irene could cause flooding, power outages or worse as far north as Maine, even if the eye of the storm stays offshore. Hurricane-force winds were expected 50 miles from the center of the storm.

Predicting the path of such a huge storm can be tricky, but the National Hurricane Center uses computer models to come up with a “cone of uncertainty,” a three-day forecast that has become remarkably accurate in recent years. Forecasters are still about a day away from the cone reaching the East Coast.

Calm mood

A system currently over the Great Lakes will play a large role in determining if Irene is pushed farther to the east in the next three or four days.

The mood was calm in Virginia Beach, Virginia Jimmy Capps, manager of the Breakers Resort Inn, said the 56-room hotel is about 80 percent booked for the weekend, despite a few cancellations.

“It just appears they’re not quite sure what the storm is going to do,” Capps said. “The thing I’m amazed at now is that we haven’t had more cancellations so far. Usually when they start mentioning the Outer Banks and Cape Lookout, which we are between, the phones light up.”

In nearby Norfolk, the Navy ordered the Second Fleet to prepare to move out to sea early Thursday to keep the ships safe from the storm.

In New England, some beachgoers started second-guessing vacation plans. Steven Miller, who runs a charter sport fishing company off the coast of Rhode Island, hasn’t received any cancellations, but no one has been calling to schedule trips in the next few days, either.

“The hoopla beforehand could end the season,” Miller said. “Everybody yanks their boats out, everybody leaves, and then they don’t come back because it’s so late in the season.”

Sandbag demand

Sandbags were in demand in the Northeast to protect already saturated grounds from flooding. Country music star Kenny Chesney moved a Sunday concert in Foxborough, Massachusetts, up to Friday to avoid the storm.

High school football games were also rescheduled, and officials still hadn’t decided whether to postpone Sunday’s dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on the National Mall. Hundreds of thousands were expected for that event.

“Tourism depends so much on the weather, which is such an unpredictable element,” said Samantha Rich, a tourism extension specialist at North Carolina State University. “An extremely hot season, an extremely cold season, a hurricane — it can make or break a season, especially for small businesses.”

In North Carolina’s Outer Banks, where about 300,000 visitors come every week in the summer, tourism is the lifeblood of the towns that dot the sandy barrier islands. Dare County beaches are the state’s top vacation destination and it ordered tourists out beginning Thursday morning.

Tourism

Tourism represents about $834 million for businesses in the county, which has 8,000 rental homes and 3,000 hotel rooms, plus campground spots.

Business owners are wary of sacrificing a weekend in August if it’s not completely necessary.

“We had that occur last year, with Earl,” said Veda Peters, co-owner of the Cypress House Inn in Kill Devil Hills. He was referring to the hurricane that passed off to the east, bringing little more than a night of rain and some wind gusts. “They evacuated the county, and then Labor Day weekend was gorgeous in the Outer Banks.”

So far, the Cypress House Inn is fully booked for the coming weekend, but Peters already is getting calls about the weather.

“If it’s safe for people to be here, we want them to be here. If it’s not safe, we’ll say so and we’ll get you in as soon as it is,” said Lee Nettles, managing director or the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau. “We have a peak summer season and we’re in the midst of that.”

Read: Department of Foreign Affairs advises against travel to Bahamas >

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3 Comments
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    Mute thomas patrick
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    May 2nd 2020, 5:24 PM

    Say what you like about the government, but my opinion is that they have done a great job of keeping what is probably an anadequate ICU system from coming under too much pressure.

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    Mute michal heba
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    May 2nd 2020, 5:25 PM

    @thomas patrick: well, they did what the rest of the world did. Copy paste style of a job. No big achievement in that, people of Ireland did great job

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    Mute Peter McGlynn
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    May 2nd 2020, 5:30 PM

    @thomas patrick: given their handling of health portfolio over 8 years they’ve had to be cautious.

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    Mute thomas patrick
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    May 2nd 2020, 5:37 PM

    @michal heba: oh yeah? So why did they have to close car parks and walkways after a few weeks?
    The people of ireland were doing a great job of ignoring social distancing guidelines until they were strictly policed.

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    Mute thomas patrick
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    May 2nd 2020, 5:39 PM

    @Peter McGlynn: agreed…. but in this instance I think the results have been as positive as we could have hoped for as a people. And that’s not to disrespect people who lost loved ones.. but it could have been a lot worse

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    Mute michal heba
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    May 2nd 2020, 5:52 PM

    @thomas patrick: there is always some element of no cooperation… But in general its people and front staff did all the work. Politicians are still free to travel in government fleet etc.

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    Mute Pád
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    May 2nd 2020, 6:00 PM

    @thomas patrick:
    Don’t think the government done that. More likely it was the medical profession.

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    Mute thomas patrick
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    May 2nd 2020, 6:21 PM

    @Pád: yep . The medical profession provided the advice and the government acted. Not like Mr. Orange across the water.
    I’m only trying to inject a little bit of positivity in a place where it’s easy to bash people. Do any of us think we’d do a better job? Or even put ourselves forward for the job in the first place? I dont think so.
    And yes, absolute credit to the heroes on the front line more than anyone else

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    Mute Derek Poutch
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    May 2nd 2020, 6:29 PM

    @thomas patrick: Could of been a lot better too.

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    Mute Toon Army
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    May 2nd 2020, 8:12 PM

    @thomas patrick: On what basis have they done a great job? Only by looking at the media spun faux comparisons of Italy and UK. When you compare with most similar European countries or the likes of New Zealand you see what could have been possible with an effective strategy and some leadership. We fell some way short. We’ve done ok but it’s been in the absence of adequate leadership.

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    Mute Toon Army
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    May 2nd 2020, 8:25 PM

    @thomas patrick: What’s the relevance in comparing us to a continent of 330 million people and a totally different social set up? I don’t see it positive to constantly say we are doing somewhat better than the couple countries that have plundered globally and that have much larger denser populations. Why not look at what’s possible in the majority of Western European / Scandinavian countries or other similar island nations like New Zealand and believe we can do much better.

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    Mute Daniel Dunne
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    May 2nd 2020, 8:50 PM

    @thomas patrick: we are an island, we could have done way better. We could have achieved the same as NZ or Australia. The “Orange One” has a lower death per capita rate than us, and when this blows over you want someone like the “Orange One” to get your economy going full tilt and roaring again – he has a business head and those types will be nearly as important as the front line workers fighting this crisis in the certain recession ahead.

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    Mute Gerald OBrien
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    May 2nd 2020, 10:12 PM

    @Daniel Dunne: Comparing NZ or the Aussies to Ireland is apples and oranges. They have very different flight traffic to a country like Ireland. They could be doing better, but the metric you have there isnt a good one. If you compare us to countries who do have similar traffic were doing pretty well. Equal to Netherlands, better than the UK for example. We’re way behind Germany, but when aren’t they the best at stuff like that in fairness. Credit where credits due.

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    Mute Gerald OBrien
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    May 2nd 2020, 10:18 PM

    @Gerald OBrien: Also if you do the math America 328,000,000(population) / 67,000(deaths) = 4,800. So 1 death every 4,800. Ireland 4,900,000(population) / 1265(deaths) = 3873. Last time I checked 3873 is less than 4,800

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    Mute FecklessBear
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    May 2nd 2020, 10:22 PM

    @Gerald OBrien: Amsterdam and London are major global air travel hubs. How exactly does Ireland have similar flight traffic to the Netherlands and the UK?
    And you can bet Australia and NZ have far more frequent flights from China.
    You’re talking nonsense.

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    Mute Paul O Neill
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    May 2nd 2020, 10:43 PM

    @Gerald OBrien: your correct in saying we can’t compare to Aus & NZ as it’s been summer over there whilst it’s been winter in this part of the world, also Dublin airport is a major hub with 33 million passing through last year, add to that the school tours to Northern Italy, Cheltenham has effected us and also the Liverpool matches tying us in with the UK more than the rest so we equally can’t be compared to Scandinavia

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    Mute Jun Stone
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    May 3rd 2020, 7:16 AM

    @thomas patrick: I agree, I think they did a brilliant job!

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    Mute Toon Army
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    May 3rd 2020, 8:53 AM

    @Gerald OBrien: lol. Similar traffic to London?

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    Mute Mairead Jenkins
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    May 2nd 2020, 5:24 PM

    That’s really good news. Now they need to get the health service back up and running generally, and start treating people in some of the 100s of empty beds.

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    Mute Jim Buckley Barrett
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    May 2nd 2020, 6:32 PM

    @Mairead Jenkins: no one is stopping any one from attending the hospital where needed. It would seem in the past that a lot of people attending A&E, don’t need to.

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    Mute Mairead Jenkins
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    May 2nd 2020, 6:57 PM

    @Jim Buckley Barrett: I agree with you re A and E. What I meant was the horrendous waiting lists. Good chance to start tackling them with so much spare capacity plus very high availability of beds in all the private hospitals.

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    Mute Andy Harding
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    May 2nd 2020, 5:23 PM

    Thank god it on the way down I’m beginning to feel like Anna Frank at this stage .

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    Mute Charles Alexander
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    May 2nd 2020, 5:49 PM

    @Andy Harding: seriously???

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    Mute Alan McDonald
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    May 2nd 2020, 6:43 PM

    @Andy Harding: Did she also spell your name wrong?

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    Mute Geraldine Glynn
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    May 2nd 2020, 6:27 PM

    Wonderful news. Couldnt be more welcome and needed.
    Full marks and our gratitude to the government and advisors for the tireless efforts.

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    Mute Derek Poutch
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    May 2nd 2020, 6:31 PM

    @Geraldine Glynn: Are you David,s wife, sister or mother even.

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    Mute Geraldine Glynn
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    May 2nd 2020, 8:18 PM

    @Derek Poutch: None of your business. My private life is not open to you or anyone else to question.

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    Mute FecklessBear
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    May 2nd 2020, 10:25 PM

    @Derek Poutch: defo lol..

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    Mute Karllye kripton
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    May 2nd 2020, 5:35 PM

    Thank you for some good news

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    Mute Jim O Brien Tech
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    May 2nd 2020, 5:27 PM

    Number of test said be be 100K last week didn’t happen no answers… 169K tested in total..

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    Mute Dell
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    May 2nd 2020, 5:37 PM

    @Jim O Brien Tech: I think every country is having issues around testing and the availability of staff and resources to do so, but at over 34000 tests per million population, we have actually tested a lot more than most countries.

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    Mute Jim O Brien Tech
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    May 2nd 2020, 6:45 PM

    @Dell: Noted however harris has promised more than once he would get to a level of testing when he has not so why keep telling people different when it is not possible

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    Mute Dell
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    May 2nd 2020, 6:50 PM

    @Jim O Brien Tech: he can’t see into the future

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    Mute Dell
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    May 2nd 2020, 6:55 PM

    @Jim O Brien Tech: also he can only go on the information he is being given by the people in the hse or the labs

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    Mute albhbc
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    May 3rd 2020, 6:35 AM

    @Dell: higher death rate also.

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    Mute Dean
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    May 2nd 2020, 8:08 PM

    That’s good. Hoping nurses get the pay rise they were promised last year.

    A clap for frontline workers, but an instant pay rise for TDs.

    Imagine if nurses held their ground on negotiations during this pandemic, because they’re in demand. That’s capitalism, right? But nurses are not as immoral as businesses or FG’s neoliberal policies.

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    Mute Steve O'Reilly
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    May 3rd 2020, 3:32 AM

    @Dean: the unfortunate thing Dean is that this government is currently throwing billions of euros at the economy and health system to keep everything afloat. This will have to be paid back. I can’t see any pay rises for anyone in that industry unfortunately. And I’m not looking forward to our next budget.

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    Mute Peter Denham
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    May 2nd 2020, 6:39 PM

    This might be, depressingly, what was needed to show this spoofer that the health system is a mess.

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    Mute David Hughes
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    May 2nd 2020, 9:42 PM

    This is interesting. Does anyone know how many people have died while in ICU? One would assume that if diagnosed with Covid-19 which then became serious resulting in hospitalisation and subsequent transfer to ICU, that most of our 1,200+ deaths should have occurred by that sequence/route. This does not appear to have been the case. It appears that the vast majority of our Covid deaths never made it to ICU and possibly never even made it to hospital. Or I am I missing something somewhere…..

    11
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    Mute Hundredth Idiot
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    May 2nd 2020, 9:55 PM

    @David Hughes: frail people aren’t put on ventilators in ICU because the outcomes aren’t good for them, i.e. it’s an intervention that doesn’t work. Nothing to do with capacity, it’s the same in normal times. So there’s lots of deaths outside of ICU.

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    Mute David Hughes
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    May 2nd 2020, 11:58 PM

    @Hundredth Idiot: Thank you. So those that are deemed to be too frail are not given the chance of life as their possible outcomes are not good – in order to make room for the potential intake of Covid 19 cases? The ICU numbers that have died seem very low in comparison with the national figure

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    Mute Hundredth Idiot
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    May 3rd 2020, 2:56 AM

    @David Hughes: No, you’re fundamentally misunderstanding. There is no capacity issue, there is no “not being given the chance of life”. ICU isn’t the most appropriate place for many frail patients. It’s a clinical decision. Google “clinical frailty scale” and COVID-19.

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    Mute John John
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    May 2nd 2020, 10:17 PM

    And zero covid19 in the 2 Galway hospitals ICU

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